Whether your children wish to improve their health, grades, friendships or technology habits, it’s important to ensure their goals are realistic and attainable. Children who have ADHD or Executive Functioning disorders may often find goal setting to be very difficult. There are ways to help children with these issues to feel empowered and gain confidence.

Speak with your child about what their hopes for the future may be. For example; say your child wants to be a scientist when they grow up. This hope for the future can help motivate your child to get certain schoolwork done, because it is based on their own desire to be a scientist when they grow up.

Help them develop goals that are specific and measurable, and then create a plan for how they’ll reach that goal. Be sure to start with small goals. For example, if your child wants to raise his math grade by the end of the school year start with the mastering one test or project at a time.

The book, Smart But Scattered by Richard Guare, PhD, Peg Dawson, EdD, and Colin Guare, reminds us that the ideal motivator for a child is a goal that is shared by the child and the parent and that is based on a long term reward. Long term goals will help your child or teen with working memory by causing them to plan in advance for work that needs to be done in order to achieve the goal.

Be sure to teach and model perseverance. Children with certain learning disabilities may face barriers that others do not. This means that perseverance is particularly important in reaching a new goal. Teaching and modeling this behavior will be particularly important to your child.

Reward their progress to help keep momentum:

  1. When you notice that your child is working toward their goal, praise them for it.

  2. Praise the work process as well as the end result. If you notice your child is consistently working and trying to reach the goal, be sure to praise this step as well.

  3. Teach your child to rely on themselves for gratification. Once your child succeeds at something, ask them how they got there in order to reinforce what was successful to them.

Remind them failure happens… and it’s okay. If at first you don’t succeed, try a new direction. It’s okay to be disappointed when they don’t first achieve their goals, but be sure to encourage them not to give up. Talk to them about what you think went wrong and how they can improve next time. Setting goals is a valuable skill for any child to witness and participate in at home.

 

Resources:
Smart But Scattered Teens by Richard Guare PhD, Peg Dawson EdD, Colin Guare

Goal Setting for Children with Learning Disabilities: Your Role Is Important http://www.ldonline.org/article/21026/